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Obama: The US never leaves a man behind
Hotair ^ | 06/03/2014 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 06/03/2014 7:53:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Barack Obama may be in Warsaw as part of a European tour, but in a real sense he’s stuck in Washington. At a joint press conference after a state meeting in Poland, Obama got questioned about the deal that exchanged Bowe Bergdahl for five high-ranking Taliban detainees, including two wanted by the UN for crimes against humanity. Obama mainly avoided discussing the detainees, although he insisted that he was “confident” that the US could prevent them from being a threat to American security in the future.

Instead, Obama defended the action by focusing on Bergdahl, perhaps learning a lesson from Susan Rice’s jaw-dropping appearance on Sunday. Regardless of the quality of Bergdahl’s service, Obama argued, the US does not leave men and women behind. “We do not condition that” pledge to their families, and said Bergdahl’s case would be evaluated at the appropriate time:

As President Barack Obama starts his third overseas trip in less than three months, he finds himself once again peppered with questions about his foreign policy, even as he attempts to cement his own legacy on the world stage.

Obama landed Tuesday in Poland, his first stop, on a mission to reassure nervous allies in Eastern Europe after Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

His three-nation journey comes as Republicans have unleashed a new line of attack questioning his judgment in exchanging five Taliban prisoners held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the return of a former prisoner of war, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

At a news conference in Warsaw, Obama defended the decision.

“We don’t leave men and women in uniform behind,” the President said.

Obama added, “We don’t condition that.” That’s the argument to which the White House should have stuck all along. It’s true, and it’s compelling — although it doesn’t exactly address the other side of that question, which is why it took all five of the Taliban’s wish-list detainees to make the trade. Nor does it really address how badly this hurts American security, considering that two years ago these same men were considered unreleasable by the Obama administration because of their danger to the US and others.

Obama tried defending his snub of Congress with much less success:

His administration had previously consulted with Congress on the possibility of a prisoner exchange for Bergdahl, Obama said, but had to move quickly because of concerns over Bergdahl’s health and to not miss a window of opportunity.

Really? Obama was in the Rose Garden on Saturday announcing this deal, but Congress didn’t get their official notification until yesterday. As I ask in my column for The Week, if Obama and the White House didn’t have time to inform Congress, how exactly did they find the time to get Bergdahl’s parents to Washington DC from Idaho on Saturday to participate in the Rose Garden speech?

Even by Monday, the White House had not bothered to notify the chair of the House Armed Services Committee of the release of the five Taliban figures and the security arrangements to keep them from rejoining the fight in Afghanistan, despite a pledge made last year that Congress would be consulted on any release. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel argued that “exigent circumstances” prevented the White House from notifying Congress — but those same circumstances somehow didn’t keep Obama from getting the Bergdahls into the Rose Garden from Idaho.

The White House’s nonchalance about the five Taliban detainees also had people scratching their heads. Press Secretary Jay Carney tried arguing that they presented no threat to the U.S., but two of them have been charged with mass murder by the United Nations, and the Taliban celebrated their release as a “big victory” over the U.S. One detainee, Khairullah Khairkwa, was a confidante of Osama bin Laden, while Abdul Haq Wasiq served as deputy intelligence minister to the Taliban.

The deceptions didn’t stop there, either:

Susan Rice, who infamously fronted the false narrative on the Benghazi attack, appeared on ABC’s This Week and arguably did it again. When George Stephanopoulos pressed her on the lopsided trade in the context of his apparent desertion, Rice instead insisted that Berghdahl had “served the United States with honor and distinction.”

That came as news to the men who served with Bergdahl and had attempted to find him after he walked away from the base. Multiple members of his unitwent public after the announcement, despite the non-disclosure agreements, to denounce Bergdahl as a deserter. One set of parents who had been told that their son died while attempting to capture a high-ranking Taliban commander instead discovered that he had been killed trying to find Bergdahl.

Even worse, James Rosen at Fox News reported that Bergdahl’s disappearance became the subject of an investigation by U.S. intelligence, which produced a “major classified file” on the questions of desertion — or perhaps even collaboration.

It’s difficult to credit Obama for any argument when he and his team at the White House keep destroying their own credibility. They seem intent on undermining themselves even when the truth would work better for them.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; bergdahl; nochildleftbehind; notraitorleftbehind; obama; obamamuslim; prisonerswap; taliban
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To: SeekAndFind
"Obama: The US never leaves a man behind..."

..... "Well.... Uh .... Unless your name is Ben .... Ben Ghazi. Yes ... we mistakenly left that Ben Ghazi guy behind .... but never again will we allow that to happen ..... PERIOD!" Said the Commander in Chief as he made his way towards Golf Cart One located at the newly installed 14 billion dollar Whitehouse Miniature Golf Course.

21 posted on 06/03/2014 8:08:02 AM PDT by R_Kangel ( "A Nation of Sheep ..... Will Beget ..... a Nation Ruled by Wolves.")
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To: SeekAndFind
Only the POTUS had the authority to act!

0bama was notified immediately and automatically when the Benghazi consulate triggered the "Imminent Danger Notification System" alert. He did nothing.

The failure to act during the attack is the direct equivalent of desertion IMO.

ONE man had the authority to act that night.

ONE man deserted his post!

EXCLUSIVE: CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack, sources say

0bama abandoned his post. 0bama Is A Deserter!

0bama left 41 people to die.

22 posted on 06/03/2014 8:10:47 AM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Regardless of the quality of Bergdahl’s service, Obama argued, the US does not leave men and women behind. “We do not condition that” pledge to their families,

Of course it is conditional. Suppose the Taliban said they wanted these 5 killers plus Michelle and the kids. And the printing equipment to make the new U.S. hundred dollar bill. And the state of Hawaii.

What "we leave no man behind" means is that in a hostile situation, we will do everything possible to collect our dead and wounded and free those are captured. It does not mean that five years later we open the gates of Gitmo and make the stupidest trade since the Mets sent a young Nolan Ryan to the Angels for an aging Jim Fregosi.

23 posted on 06/03/2014 8:11:02 AM PDT by TruthShallSetYouFree (Jay Carney: The (Benghazi) emails weren't about Benghazi.)
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To: dfwgator
Dad polishes his Muslim speak for Obama...
24 posted on 06/03/2014 8:11:04 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: SeekAndFind

Not to mention Benghazi. The US never leaves a man behind unless it jeopardizes the election.


25 posted on 06/03/2014 8:13:36 AM PDT by GilGil
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Except for ambassadors...?
26 posted on 06/03/2014 8:13:45 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: SeekAndFind

Benghazi and Mexico. Obama is a liar. A repeat offender liar. Impeachment should be sought by the House of Representatives.


27 posted on 06/03/2014 8:14:11 AM PDT by Tudorfly
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To: petitfour
some of the men who went to rescue the folks in Benghazi had to take off their uniforms and leave them in Tripoli. I think but am not sure that one of those guys was left to die on the roof of the “annex” though he was retrieved alive the next day.

Why were they wearing military uniforms? They weren't still in the military. We're they?

28 posted on 06/03/2014 8:15:44 AM PDT by uncitizen
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To: SeekAndFind

We’ve done it before.

AND....

We’ll do it again.


29 posted on 06/03/2014 8:15:44 AM PDT by Flintlock (islam is a LIE; mowhommod was a MOLESTER CRIMINAL; sharia is POISON.)
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To: SeekAndFind

We’ve done it before.

AND....

We’ll do it again.


30 posted on 06/03/2014 8:16:00 AM PDT by Flintlock (islam is a LIE; mowhommod was a MOLESTER CRIMINAL; sharia is POISON.)
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To: All

31 posted on 06/03/2014 8:16:25 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike ("Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it." Lao Tzu)
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To: dfwgator
This is either el pResidente's bottom fixation, or he just saw `Little Miss Sunshine': no one left behind photo: Road Trip - No one gets left behind volkswagen-bus-front-view.jpg
32 posted on 06/03/2014 8:17:52 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: SeekAndFind

Yeh sure...meanwhile we have a former soldier held illegally in a Mexican prison and a christian pastor he ignores in an Iranian one. They bring no ego value to Bammy so they rot away while he ignores them.
Obastard for sure.


33 posted on 06/03/2014 8:17:58 AM PDT by tflabo (Truth or Tyranny)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, here is an interesting thing.

If you drive north on 395 in VA with a gun, and miss the turn off for RTE 1, you are a felon in DC.

And you go to jail.

Just like Mexico.


34 posted on 06/03/2014 8:18:48 AM PDT by patton (“Really? Have you tried chewing cloves?”)
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To: SeekAndFind

Did we get the bodies back from Benghazi, then?


35 posted on 06/03/2014 8:21:01 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ((Brilliant, Profound Tag Line Goes Here, just as soon as I can think of one..)
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To: uncitizen

The group out of Tripoli had contractors and active duty men in it. The active duty men were told to take off their uniforms. I can’t remember where that info came from. It was in a news account somewhere.


36 posted on 06/03/2014 8:21:35 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: SeekAndFind

Everyone knows seals and ambassadors aren’t men.


37 posted on 06/03/2014 8:23:28 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist (Jeremiah 50:32 "The arrogant one will stumble and fall ; / ?)
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To: SeekAndFind

In the aftermath of “Operation Keelhaul” ...


38 posted on 06/03/2014 8:28:29 AM PDT by jamaksin
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To: rawcatslyentist

I am still wondering why there was no outrage from anyone in government about Ambassador Stevens being murdered on live tv. Can you name another country that would put up with that? An Ambassador is a high political position and is the representative of his country.

Imagine what our remaining ambassadors in the middle east are thinking.


39 posted on 06/03/2014 8:30:42 AM PDT by Texas resident (The democrat party is now the CPUSA)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Over 8000 mia from Korea. Some still MIA Viet named.


40 posted on 06/03/2014 8:34:33 AM PDT by southland ( I have faith in the creator Republicans freed the slaves)
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